BENIDORM Fest winner Chanel Terrero will represent Spain at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Torino, northern Italy, after gaining the public's and judges' votes in an extremely closely-fought final.
Chanel Terrero will sing for Spain this May after her track, SloMo, won the Benidorm Fest (photo: Carlos Álvarez/Getty Images via Spain's chart radio show website, Los40.com)
The competition staged in the Costa Blanca (Alicante province coast) town by national television and radio broadcasting company RTVE was this year's route to selecting the artist who would be singing and performing for the country at the cult international pop show where Spain, historically, comes home with very disappointing scores.
Around 60 years since Spain's only Eurovision win – not counting the Eurovision Junior, which it won in 2004 and where every Spanish candidate has ended in the top four – the highest-placed entry for the country this century was Pastora Soler in 2012.
The already-established Sevilla-born flamenco-pop artist came 10th, and was present at the Benidorm Fest, performing live twice whilst the public was waiting for the vote count.
Half the points would come from the judges' votes, and the other half from the public, split between those given during a straw-poll among a stratified sample, and those received by text message.
The favourites ahead of the final were Rigoberta Bandini and Tanxugueiras, but Chanel Terrero, 30, was considered a complete outsider.
She finished comfortably ahead of her nearest rival, Elche-born Blanca Paloma with her flamenco-style number, who just squeezed in front of Rayden, in third place.
Tanxugueiras was fourth in the judges' votes, followed by Xeinn, Varry Brava, and finally Gonzalo Hermida – currently in forced isolation in a Benidorm hotel, but joining in the final via Zoom – and Rigoberta Bandini.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com